1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for reducing and printing an original (e.g., document) that includes a machine-readable code such as a barcode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, various pieces of information are bar-coded. In addition to known one-dimensional barcodes, two-dimensional barcodes such as a QR (Quick Response) code are often used in books and advertisements.
An apparatus capable of detecting in advance that the size of a barcode included in a document will deviate from a standard when the document is enlarged or reduced is known (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open No. 8-310050).
The above-described apparatus reduces and prints at least one of an image and text which includes a barcode without reducing the size of the barcode. In this case, an image portion or a text portion that has been present around the barcode before the reduced-size copying is performed is sometimes omitted due to the fact that the barcode is not reduced in size.